Action off Montserrat

After escaping from Rhode Island, the plan was to cruise south separately and rendezvous off Montserrat.

Unfortunately, it seems like the plan was not a secret well kept, and as Lexington and Saratoga make their rendezvous, a third guest makes an appearance.

Attachment 49012

Adamant has also made the rendezvous!

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She has the weather gauge and moves to cut off Saratoga before the two frigates can unite.

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Saratoga and Adamant exchange opening broadside ms. Note that we play that 32 gun frigates subtract -1 from their numerical damage in a broadside to reflect the 12 pdr guns. With Adamant throwing 24 pound balls, the exchange is uneven.

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Things look up for Saratoga has she gets a bow rake at point blank range. Meanwhile, Lexington works her way to weather.

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The weight of shot begins to tell. I want to get Saratoga away before she can't take any more.

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Lexington has tacked. She has the weather gauge and the battle will be ours, Saratoga just has to live long enough...

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It isn't to be. On Saratoga, the foremast comes crashing down and the crew has had enough. The ensign comes fluttering down. But Lexington is coming on!

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Adamant is starting to feel the fight. She and Lexington exchange broadsides. It's rough for Lady Lex, but a fair exchange.

...at this point, I got caught up in the struggle and didn't take any more pictures.

The two ships battered away at each other and it was pretty even until Adamant luffed up, got caught in irons, and when she fell off, fouled Lexington. They became entangled, and Adamant couldn't bring her great guns to bear. She hauled down her flag, and shortly succumbed to numerous flooding hits. Saratoga was liberated, and putting in to an allied French port had everything put to rights in a few days.

Suzanne and I played the frigates while my solo rules controlled the Portland. The AI did well except for the luffing up in the end. I think it was an error in the way I was figuring
probability on the 2nd red table and have corrected it. I'll post the revision later.

It is great,not only to see a battle where the AI actually stands a chance of winning, but also the way you are fine tuning the rules.
Rob.

The updated version has been posted on entry #48:

https://sailsofglory.org/showthread....1942#post91942

Beware! The AI is getting quite good at ship-handling now. If anyone plays an engagement, I'd love to hear. Also, if you have any questions, just ask.

I think Suzanne sailed a very canny sea battle there, waiting until you had inflicted and taken all the damage and then like the white knight, sailing in to rescue you. Enjoyed reading it.

I have finally cleared my gaming table of all the new scenery I have been producing and hope to have a game sometime in the not too distant future and I intend giving your AI a run through. I'll let you know how I go on. Note this will be from a novices perspective.

I was able to pick up the 3 50gun ships recently, are Saratoga and Lexington Concorde class frigates and do you think its a good match up, or only if you reduce the firepower of the 12lb guns?

For Saratoga and Lexington I used Amazon models and base cards and firepower, but a Burden of 3 and an "A" deck, so kind of a Concorde that can't sail as close to the wind but with a good first shot.

If you don't want to modify things, John, you might just try Amazons or Concordes as they are.

My thinking was that French ships were usually known for being fast, so I made my Concordes use "C" deck. Since Amazons were roughly the same size, I made them Burden 3 with the "A" deck. They're slower but have a better opening punch.

I think two unmodified Amazons might be more than a Portland can handle. Everyone starts with a 4 broadside!

The main thing is to have fun!:happy:

Nice game, Dobbs.

Love the rocks and islands on the table. They fir 100% to the blue table surface. :salute:

I will be producing some of those stack type rocks myself soon Sven.
I am suffering from rock envy. the Isle of Wight has the Needles and besides Sails games I could use them for a BOB game off the Solent.

Rob.

Cheers Dobbs, I've just printed your AI rules and am going to try them sailing Constitution, I shall be sailing Guerriere although maybe it should be the other way round and give the Guerriere the advantage of a good Captain.:surrender: